Wiztergo
by Ryllen
Summary: Harry learns after the CoS that his life isn't what it was supposed to be.  With his life in his own hands Harry sets out to change his lot in life with skills that wizards never dreamed of.  Chapter 1 fixed
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, he's owned by JK Rowling, Warner Brothers, and various publishing companies. I'm not making any money by posting this, and it was done purely for entertainment value.**

Wiztergo

Chapter 1: Breaking the Chains

As Harry swung the fang towards the diary his glasses, that had been barely sitting in place after the battle, slipped from his face and landed square on the diary. Too late to stop his swing and save his glasses the fang pierce through where the frames and right lens met before plunging into the diary. As the venom was ejected from the fang upon the strike two things happened in rapid succession. The first thing to happen was a green smoke rose from the diary along with a scream coming from the shade of Tom Riddle, and second the glasses that Harry had been using since he could remember shattered into millions of pieces with a bright flash. When the flash had subsided Harry was shocked to realize he could see perfectly and memories were flooding his mind, memories that he never realized he was missing until this exact second. As he sat there frozen assimilating all of the memories he did not notice Fawkes ripping out a feather and dipping it into the venom that was still leaking from the fang. With a deft movement the phoenix spread the small amount of venom onto Harry's scar. This action caused the first reaction from Harry since the destruction of his glasses. With the application of venom there were two screams echoing throughout the chamber, one coming from the green smoke pouring out of the scar, and one from Harry himself. Once the screaming from the scar subsided he noticed Fawkes dripping tears into the hole in his arm where the fang had gone nearly all the way through. Once that was healed the immortal creature of light hopped up to his shoulder and dripped a single tear onto his scar immediately relieving all the pain he was feeling and closing the scar. When he would look into a mirror later he would only see a very faint line where the scar had once resided, the only evidence left from the attack when he was 1.

"Harry, are you alright," a young voice asked from a short distance away. Still assimilating memories it took him a moment to realize it was Ginny asking. The look in her eyes showed that she was scared right now, whether from their location, or because of the scream that had woken her he wasn't sure.

"I'm fine Ginny," he replied slowly while the memories that had been barred from his mind finally stopped coming forth. His mind was a jumbled mess as the memories had come too quickly for him to really go over any single one. That would come later, when he was lying in bed though, for now he had to make sure they got out of there. "Let's go find Ron and that twit Lockhart and get out of here."

"Ok, if you're sure you're ok," she said hesitantly. He nodded to her and carefully got up while stuffing the diary into his robe pocket. Once on his feet he held a hand out to her to help her up as she looked utterly exhausted.

"They're near the tunnel out, there was a collapse that separated us," he informed her as he guided her towards the exit. As they were walking along Ginny seemed to come out of her shock and began crying before trying to tell him all she knew.

"_Harry – Oh, Harry – I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I _couldn't_ say it in front of Percy – it was _me_ Harry – but I – I s-swear I didn't mean to – R-Riddle made me, he t-took over – and – _how_ did you kill that – that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary – _beforehearing two people screaming as I came to." (section in italics taken directly from US edition Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, pg 325)

"It's alright Ginny, both Riddle and the basilisk are finished, you don't have to worry about them anymore, let's get you out of here," he told her as they approached the site of the cave in. Harry took a deep breath before yelling, "RON!"

"Yeah Mate, we're here, is Ginny ok," came the muffled reply from the other side of the rock wall.

"I've got here right here, she'll be fine," Harry yelled back while helping Ginny fit through the hole that Ron had managed to make in the rocks while waiting for them to show up. Once she was through he followed carefully, making sure not to disturb and of the rocks more than necessary given that they'd already collapsed once. After falling through the other side Fawkes glided through the hole and hovered in front of them all with his tail-feathers spread out.

"What's going on? Why's that overgrown turkey flying there? How are we going to get out of here," Ron asked after checking over Ginny to see if she had any injuries.

"He's a phoenix Ron, as Dumbledore told me, they can lift immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing properties, and they can transport themselves amazing distances," Harry recited, although he wasn't exactly sure where all that information came from as Dumbledore hadn't told him all of that.

"Hello, who are you," a voice asked from the wall of the tunnel. Harry turned to see Lockhart sitting there with a vacant expression on his face, not much different than normal now that he thought about it.

"Professor Lockhart," Harry started, only to see the older man look even more confused.

"He means you," Ron huffed.

"Me? A professor? Taught you everything I know I expect," Lockhart began before something shiny caught his attention.

"Everyone grab onto my robes," Harry instructed before grabbing onto the very warm tail-feathers. With a cry of phoenix song the group was enveloped in flames and disappeared only to reappear in the hospital wing. With quick instructions to Ron to get Madame Pompfrey and get Lockhart into a bed Harry grabbed Ginny's hand before dragging her out of the wing towards following Fawkes as he was apparently guiding them somewhere they needed to get to quickly. He had a gut feeling that if he didn't follow there would be a lot of problems coming quickly on their heels. Reaching McGonagall's office Harry knocked on the door before walking in after the 'enter' from inside. While walking in with Ginny at his heels there was silence until they had both cleared the door and then the shout came.

"GINNY!"

It was Mrs. Weasley who had been crying in front of the fire that shouted. That was the only warning the two had before she had crossed the room and enveloped her daughter into a crushing hug. While that was going on Harry took the time to check out who else was in the room. Dumbledore seemed to be standing by the mantle, Professor McGonagall was next to him trying to get her breathing under control, and Mr. Weasley was making his way slowly up to his wife and daughter with a large smile on his face. Fawkes, who had settled on his shoulder while he knocked on the door, took flight and landed on McGonagall's desk as if it were his perch. Before Harry had a chance to start things off he found himself enveloped into the same bone jarring hug that had held Ginny only moments before.

"You saved her! You saved her, how in the name of Merlin did you do it," The matronly weasley shouted into his ears.

"I believe that is something that we would all like to know," Dumbledore told her calmly while making new squishy chairs with a gesture from his wand. Molly seemed to get the hint as she let Harry go, only to grab her daughter and lead her towards the Hagrid sized chair that would fit the two of them. It seemed Dumbledore had an idea of what would happen and planned accordingly. Once everyone was seated it appeared it was time to begin telling an altered truth. Without meeting anyone's gaze Harry began telling the story of what happened: hearing the voices, Hermione figuring out it was a basilisk, the trip to see Aragog, speaking with Myrtle, about how he and Ron forced Lockhart to go down, the attempted memory erasure, the cave-in, the shade of Tom Riddle, the fight with the basilisk, everything. The only time he changed the story was when he neglected to mention his glasses going with the diary. He had brushed all the fragments off when he picked up the diary to ensure nobody would get suspicious and drug it against the inside of his robe pocket to be sure before placing it on McGonagall's desk. He finished up telling how they followed the tunnel back out to where Ron and Lockhart were and the journey back.

"That's pretty much it, the only other bit is my lenses were cracked during the fight and I left them in the hospital wing to get fixed. Although, I think I forgot to ask Madame Pompfrey to fix them. I can do that when we go back there." The story was finished and he was proud of himself that he gave a semi-believable excuse for not having his glasses in case someone asked. He also failed to mention grabbing the sword before leaving as that was safely tucked into his hospital bed that was waiting for him. He had only moments to stash it while helping Ron drag Lockhart to a bed. A feeling in his gut warning him not to give up the blade, no matter what.

"That is most certainly an interesting tale," Dumbledore began gently, making Harry worry for a moment that he would be discovered, "I am most interested in learning how Lord Voldemort could enchant the diary when all my sources state that he is currently in Albania."

"Sir, he enchanted it when he was a teenager, couldn't have been older than 16 or so," Harry answered, it seems he had neglected to mention the apparent age of the shade during the story. The rest of the people in the office seemed kind of bewildered about what the two were talking about so Dumbledore thought best to answer and head off any questions.

"Tom Riddle was one of the most brilliant students that Hogwarts has ever seen. Very few people know that Lord Voldemort once went by the name Tom Riddle while he was a student here," Dumbledore began.

"Sir, I think I can help clear up some confusion. I left it out of my story as I didn't think it important at the time," cut in the voice of the boy hero before performing the same trick Riddle had used in the chamber taking TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE and changing it to I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. Comprehension appeared on the faces of everyone as they finally connected the two. That little bit of magic seemed to drain him completely so he begged his leave before heading back to the hospital wing to sleep. Unfortunately, due to his exhaustion he completely missed Lucius Malfoy's visit, as well as the chance to free Dobby himself. It had happened anyway, as _somehow_ one of his clean socks made it between the pages. While it might be said that house elves disliked free elves they also took care of their own. The Hogwarts elves were no exception to this, in fact, they were the instigators of this behavior as they had learned from watching the students what it meant to take care of their own. The only reason they had a dislike for free elves is because they felt that any elf that escaped an abusive environment should do their best to get a new family. And while Harry didn't know of this yet, he would certainly take advantage once out of the hospital. Dobby knew whose sock it was that freed him, even without the owner being present.

While Harry lay in his bed in the Hospital Wing following the meetings he pretended to be sleeping while he was going through all the memories that had been unlocked in the chamber. To say he was upset was putting it lightly, as he remembered shortly after teaching himself to read Dumbledore showing up at the Dursley's and giving him the glasses. As soon as they were on his face he found it harder to think and he couldn't access his special power that he used to entertain himself and Dudley. As soon as the sensations took hold he remembered the bastard pointing his wand and saying _obliviate_. From then on whenever his glasses broke apart he regained what was lost, for the most part, and had trained himself quite well in magic. It seemed that while his memories were free looking back he could tell that there were still some things happening. His comprehension and reasoning ability seemed to wake up for the first time in his life, it was almost like the complete destruction of his frames was the key to unlocking his full potential. Like clockwork though, within a month of the glasses breaking Dumbledore would show up again and repair them. Unlike the first time when the glasses needed to be on his face to be effective, the moment they were repaired the spells went back into effect and suppressed all the memories that had been locked away before, along with the new experiences with magic that Harry had gotten.

The memories from Hogwarts were different though, as he already knew of magic and was being trained, albeit not very well, all the memories from Hogwarts had been of Harry learning of wizarding laws that would allow him to escape his so-called relatives, and the studying ahead that he had done. Harry had gotten through the fourth year text books in the library before Dumbledore had caught on to what was going on. A couple of them though, those were like hitting a jackpot in his mind. Those memories supplied him with vital information, such as the person who had pointed Voldemort at his family. There were also instances where he overheard Ron gloating to people that he was friends with the boy-who-lived and getting a weekly stipend to give information to the Headmaster. They had no less than 10 falling outs in the last 2 years before Ron finally learned that he couldn't blab about that to anyone as he could, and usually was, overheard by Harry or someone who would tell him.

Once all the memories were gone over and the lessons from those memories learned, again, Harry used the remaining week before the end of term to scour the library for ways to block being obliviated again. He made sure to avoid the professors as much as possible due to the fact he no longer had glasses. He had gotten lucky that everyone was more concerned about Ginny and what happened in the chamber to notice that he no longer had them, and he had no wish to repeat the experiences from his childhood of his magic and memories being locked away. Dobby was a godsend during this time as he would stick to Harry like glue and tell him if anyone was coming so he could hide while studying the few books he found from the library. He had found a total of three books on a subject called Occlumency, and each book had a different take on the best way to achieve mastery. They all agreed however that a master occlumens would be able to block an obliviate due to the nature of the mind magic. Using what he had studied previously Harry was able to brew a perfect pepper up potion to help him stay awake during the week. He knew that once he was returned to the Dursley's that he would be able to get the rest that he needed, but right now he didn't have time to sleep. After finding those books after two days of searching he had spent every waking moment possible going over the books before starting the meditations to build up his Occlumency barriers. Luckily with the return of so many memories he had already done the first step to organize those memories which all the books said was the first step. Having to relive basically his whole life to organize them coherently and chronologically had cut out at least 6 months that the books stated was usually the minimum needed to organize ones mind. By the time the feast was upon him he had basic shields covering his most important memories, although he knew that a skilled wizard like Dumbledore would be able to get through them easily.

Hermione returning was both a good and bad moment for him. As when she returned it spelled the end of his self-imposed exile from the rest of the school, but his best friend was awake and healthy. He filled her in on everything that had happened, with the exception of the returned memories as he remembered the only fight they had after the troll in first-year was due to him being further ahead than her academically. When questioned about his glasses he told a half-truth and said that when they were broken in the chamber he realized he no longer needed them. While she would normally call him on it, and then head to the library to study what could possibly have happened to his eyes she was still a bit overwhelmed from his story of the chamber so that question went to the backburner until much later. Right after the feast Harry claimed a headache and went to bed as he knew that with Hermione up and about he would not be able to sneak back out of the tower that night to get one more night of studying. Once his head touched the pillow he was asleep and didn't wake until it was time to leave for the train. Luckily Dobby had noticed for him and packed everything up while the dorm was empty, including the Sword of Gryffindor, to save him the time of quickly packing everything up. He slowly made his way with Ron and Hermione to the train and once they had a compartment it was lights out again until the train pulled into London.

"Harry, are you ok," Hermione asked gently.

"I'm fine, just didn't get much sleep this week what with you in the hospital wing and all," he hedged.

"Are you sure? Ron said you were asleep when he went to check on you last night and that you didn't get up until just before we had to leave. Then you slept the whole way back," she prodded. _Damn, looks like she's more suspicious than I thought_ Harry cursed mentally.

"Like I said, I didn't get much sleep this last week so I was just catching up. I feel a lot more awake now so I think I'm good."

"Alright, but promise me that you'll write me this summer and if you still feel off in a couple days that you'll get seen," she told him with a pleading look in her eyes. He felt his resolve crumbling quickly and made that promise even though he knew he would be fine by tomorrow. With the parchment she gave him last year he figured that he could easily write her by muggle post or call her as he assumed that his mail was being watched now. It would only make sense after everything that had happened to him in the past. With one last hug from Hermione and a quick goodbye to Ron, to keep the illusion going that he trusted the backstabber, he trudged towards the barrier to meet his uncle on the other side and get back to Privet Drive knowing that the less time he spent out in the open the better. Figuring that he only had a day to catch up on sleep before he needed to sneak back out or risk Dumbles showing up he started making plans.

"Boy, where have you been," Vernon roared before continuing much more quietly so as not to be overheard by other _normal_ people, "And where are your glasses? I'm not spending good money to replace them again you freak."

"Train just got in Uncle Vernon, and you don't need to get me another pair of glasses as the nurse at school fixed my eyes," the lie came easily as he didn't care if Vernon believed it or not. Within 24 hours he would be out of their house, hopefully to never return.

**AN: Just changing the chapter to the **_**somewhat**_** expanded version. Filling out details I didn't before and adding the conversation in the office. I'm going to start on chapter 2 right away, but after that's posted today or tomorrow expect infrequent updates on this story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, he's owned by JK Rowling, Warner Brothers, and various publishing companies. Assassin's Creed is owned by Ubisoft. I'm not making any money by posting this, and it was done purely for entertainment value.**

Wiztergo

_Last time on Wiztergo:_

"_Harry, are you ok," Hermione asked gently._

"_I'm fine, just didn't get much sleep this week what with you in the hospital wing and all," he hedged._

"_Are you sure? Ron said you were asleep when he went to check on you last night and that you didn't get up until just before we had to leave. Then you slept the whole way back," she prodded. Damn, looks like she's more suspicious than I thought Harry cursed mentally._

"_Like I said, I didn't get much sleep this last week so I was just catching up. I feel a lot more awake now so I think I'm good."_

"_Alright, but promise me that you'll write me this summer and if you still feel off in a couple days that you'll get seen," she told him with a pleading look in her eyes. He felt his resolve crumbling quickly and made that promise even though he knew he would be fine by tomorrow. With the parchment she gave him last year he figured that he could easily write her by muggle post or call her as he assumed that his mail was being watched now. It would only make sense after everything that had happened to him in the past. With one last hug from Hermione and a quick goodbye to Ron, to keep the illusion going that he trusted the backstabber, he trudged towards the barrier to meet his uncle on the other side and get back to Privet Drive knowing that the less time he spent out in the open the better. Figuring that he only had a day to catch up on sleep before he needed to sneak back out or risk Dumbles showing up he started making plans._

"_Boy, where have you been," Vernon roared before continuing much more quietly so as not to be overheard by other normal people, "And where are your glasses? I'm not spending good money to replace them again you freak."_

"_Train just got in Uncle Vernon, and you don't need to get me another pair of glasses as the nurse at school fixed my eyes," the lie came easily as he didn't care if Vernon believed it or not. Within 24 hours he would be out of their house, hopefully to never return._

Chapter 2: Sometimes It's Not Our Past That Haunts Us

While 24 hours was, what Harry thought, the worst case scenario, he had actually slept closer to 36 hours just getting caught up on the sleep that he missed. Luckily when he woke up it was still too early for his relatives to be awake yet, so with all the stealth he'd learned sneaking around Hogwarts he snuck through the house gathering supplies, like food and money, to ensure that his bid for freedom wasn't stopped before it began. The money came from Vernon's wallet as severance pay in Harry's mind. He'd worked himself to the bone for them for years for hand me down clothes, barely enough food, and until threatened a bed in the cupboard under the stairs. He felt he was entitled to a few hundred pounds for that, although Vernon wouldn't agree. His last stop before leaving the house for good was a quick check of the attic to ensure that there were no possessions of his parents lying around. He doubted it, but given the fact he was never allowed into the attic, even to clean, meant there was something there that he should rightfully have. The small chest he found buried into the corner with his mums name on it was definitely what his so called relatives had been attempting to hide from him, and a quick glance showed that it had nothing to do with the wizarding world. There were some loose pages written in a language that seemed similar to latin, but quite different at the same time. Along with the pages there were designs for clothes that seemed _like_ wizarding clothes, but still different. Figuring that the contents could be examined in detail later the chest was closed and tucked under his arm and stuffed into his trunk before Harry walked right out the front door. He didn't bother closing or locking the door as he _hoped_ that someone would walk right in and start stealing things. It would certainly teach his relatives if they woke up to discover all of their stuff gone.

The journey to the train station didn't take long as the town wasn't very big to begin with, and as it was still early there were few people out and about yet. Looking at his watch Harry noted in was 6:30 am, and the first train to London had left an hour ago with the next leaving in another 15-20 minutes. There was still plenty of time to get his ticket and grab a quick sandwich from the vendor at the station. After forcing down the sandwich that tasted almost as bad as some of the potions in the wizarding world, Harry boarded the train that would hopefully carry him to freedom. While waiting for the train to depart he took out a pen and piece of scrap paper he'd lifted from the kitchen to start creating a list of things he needed to accomplish.

_Empty vault at Gringott's_

_Buy school books through 7__th__ year_

_Buy law books on underage magic and emancipation_

_Find a way around laws_

_Rent a room in London, muggle side_

_Practice Occlumency_

_Call Hermione_

_Hire a solicitor if needed_

_Study through 5__th__ year material_

_Take OWLs_

Some of the items on the list, like the books for 6th and 7th year were for later, hopefully he'd be far enough into the course material to begin it by the end of the summer, but he'd have it just in case. And he was going to make sure that he picked up the books that were set when he was going into first year as he didn't think the so called defense books he purchased this year changed from one year to the next to inflate Lockhart's profits. Harry had heard in passing that education was only compulsory through the tests at the end of 5th year, the OWLs if he wasn't mistaken, so it was his hopes that he would be able to take them this summer if everything went to plan. That way he had a legitimate way to stop going to Hogwarts and be out of Dumbledore's grasp for good. Figuring that he needed things to do while not studying, as not even Hermione could study all the time, he had the chest of his mum's from the attic. It would take time to decipher which language and then the actual text, but it would also bring him closer to his mum. The connection to at least one of his parents was something he was grabbing with both hands and not letting go, so he figured he'd spend at least an hour a day working on it until it was fully decoded. Looking out the window for the first time since sitting on the train he noticed that they had left the station, probably a good bit of time ago, and the train was slowing down for one of the stops on the way to London. While the car had been more or less empty during the ride from Little Whinging, it appeared that more people got on the train at this stop as it was going to be nearly full when everyone was on. Taking out the chest from his truck quickly, so nobody noticed the other possessions in it, he decided to go through that during the trip to London as time would be short for the rest of the day. Looking at the pages again, what first appeared to be close to Latin, seemed to share only a few words in common:

_Quelle che seguono sono i tre grandi ironie dell'Ordine Assassin: (1) Qui cerchiamo di promuovere la pace, ma l'omicidio è il nostro mezzo. (2) Qui cerchiamo di aprire le menti degli uomini, ma richiedono l'obbedienza a un maestro e un insieme di regole. (3) Qui cerchiamo di svelare il pericolo di una fede cieca, ma siamo professionisti noi stessi._

_Non ho una risposta soddisfacente a queste accuse, solo possibilità ... Facciamo piegare le regole al servizio di un bene più grande? E se lo facciamo, cosa dice di noi? Che siamo bugiardi? Che ci sono truffe? Che siamo deboli? Ogni momento è passato alle prese con queste contraddizioni e nonostante tutti gli anni ho dovuto riflettere, ancora riesco a trovare una risposta adeguata ... E ho paura che uno non può esistere._

Niente è vero. Tutto è permesso_. Il nostro credo fornire la risposta, allora? Che si può essere due cose - di fronte in ogni modo - contemporaneamente? E perché no? Non sono io la prova? Noi di nobili intenzioni, in possesso di mezzi barbari? Noi che celebriamo la santità della vita e poi subito prendere da quelli che riteniamo i nostri nemici?_

**(a/n: language is supposed to be Florentine, which is pretty close to regular Italian as it is. Any facts about it that could be wrong I apologize for, but I couldn't find much on it other than it was started by Dante and later grew in popularity until the standardized Italian after WWII.)**

One phrase seemed to jump out of the page at him, writing it down on another scrap piece of paper he figured he'd start there when trying to find the language of origin. The person sitting next to him, an attractive woman in her early 20s with brunette hair, light blue eyes, and it seemed she was wearing what at first appeared to be a suit, except for the skirt, glanced over at his paper before cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted," the woman spoke with a questioning tone to her voice, which was thickly accented. "What would a boy your age be doing translating that to Florentine? An attempt to make a motto for your gang no doubt."

"Excuse me," Harry asked, confusedly, before looking at his 'clothes'. He was still wearing his hand me downs, which with the current fashions looked a bit like what Piers and the others from Dudley's 'gang' wore. "Oh no ma'am, I found some things at home and I was wondering what language it was. That phrase seemed to jump out of the page at me so I figured I'd use that to track down the language." The woman looked down at him, appearing to be deciding whether she believed him or not, and she seemed to finally come to a conclusion.

"The language is Florentine, a pre-cursor, you could say, to the standard Italian language. If you are attempting to translate something then using regular Italian should suffice." That seemed all the woman was willing to give as she turned her attention elsewhere. But the information was a gold mine to young Harry; he had a place to start, and even the first bit translated _Nothing is true, everything is permitted._ The rest of the train ride went quickly for him as he kept turning that phrase over in his head wondering at the full meaning of the phrase. He could assume that it's meaning was obvious, but that didn't set right with him. Some how he knew that the phrase was a small part of a greater meaning. Decoding the rest of the pages would help him he knew, even if there were only 4 written pages and several pages of sketches. The woman only seemed to pay attention to him one more time, and that was to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention due to their arrival in London. Harry had adopted something of a 1,000 yard stare while thinking. After giving his thanks to the woman he disembarked the train at Waterloo station before hailing a cab over to Charring Cross and the Leaky Cauldron as it was close enough no to grab another train as they had done when Hagrid had brought him to get his school supplies. The ride was short and before Harry knew it he was staring up at the sign for the Leaky Cauldron, with a deep breath he made his way inside and with a quick wave to Tom marched right through to the back door and the entrance to Diagon Alley. Thankfully as it was just past 8 am there were no other people in the tavern that would recognize him. Knowing that if asked Tom would divulge that Harry had come through he knew he was now on a tight schedule. He needed to get to the bank and Flourish and Blotts quickly otherwise he'd be caught like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar.

**(Break)**

After 4 hours of shopping, 2 of which were in Diagon Alley and dealing with Gringott's, Harry finally managed to get his things stowed into the hotel room he managed to rent. After arguing with the goblins, manipulating the workers at the book store, and searching out book and clothing stores in muggle London he was exhausted. Deciding that it would be best to start things off the next day he ate the last of the sandwiches he had packed before leaving Privet Drive before letting his exhaustion consume him and going to sleep.

_Dream:_

"_Safety and peace, Malik."_

"_Your presence here will deliver us both."_

"_It would make sense, my brother, to illustrate these attacks for the future of our brotherhood."_

"_Of course Master, to avenge my father and help reclaim the order my blade is yours."_

"_Carlo Grimaldi and the Barbarigo are in league with the one they call the Spainard. They're going to murder the Doge and replace him with one of their own. They will have all of Venezia, all of her fleet, in their grasp."_

"_And they call ME a criminal!"_

"_Who are the true nobles of Venice? People like Carlo Grimaldi and Marco Barbarigo? No! I say we are!"_

"_We have our prize, but there is much to be done."_

"_It is time we leave our land and head north, to hear tell, the Templars are massing under the rule of King Charles in the United Kingdom."_

"_Charles has discovered the tomb of a piece like the apple, now is the time to act, we must remove that piece from his possession before he learns how to use it or the fate of Masyaf will be the fate of the world."_

With that last exclamation coming from his mouth Harry woke up in a cold sweat. He felt like he had been running all night, and was sore all over his body. Not even quidditch made him this sore. The dream was like snapshots of different lives, but nothing that made sense. He shelved the dream for now figuring that he would either forget the dream, as he normally did, or he could come back to it later. After a quick call to order some room service and a shower he opened his trunk and pulled out his text from Charms class for first year. Figuring that if he was to attempt the OWLs this summer he'd best start from the beginning and go from there.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, he's owned by JK Rowling, Warner Brothers, and various publishing companies. Assassin's Creed is owned by Ubisoft. I'm not making any money by posting this, and it was done purely for entertainment value.

A/N: I know, it's been quite a while since I posted an update to this story. I didn't like where I was going to take it so I took a break for a while. As of right now I know where it's going in only the vaguest of terms. We'll see how it turns out. Hopefully I'll update again soon.

Wiztergo

"Well, that's the last of the theory, at least for OWLs," Harry mused to himself while stretching. He had been holed up in his muggle hotel room for nearly a month now. In that time he had made sure he completely understood not only the theory for the first five years of Hogwarts, but also the laws of the wizarding world and how they applied to him. Running on a schedule of:

6-7: Physical fitness in hotel gym

7-8: Breakfast

8-12: Wizarding Law

12-1: Lunch

1-5: Transfiguration (Mon, Wed), Charms (Tues, Thurs), Potions (Friday)

5-6: Dinner

6-9: Herbology (Mon, Wed), DADA (Tues, Thurs), History (Friday)

9-10: Occlumency Practice (Every Night)

This was how his first 2 weeks went until he decided he needed to add time on Saturday as well to work on the practical portion of Potions. Due to not needing to use his wand it was something that he could practice without anyone being the wiser, as long as he used a portable cook stove for the fire. He just needed to make sure to keep the window open so the smell didn't bother any other hotel residents. The only real problem with all the studying is that he couldn't practice spell casting or the handling of the various plants needed for Herbology.

Due to the occlumency practice Harry was able to retain everything he read and recall it a lot more easily than he had in the past while studying. Usually just reading something once would allow the information to sink in and be understood as long as he had a grasp of the information to come before it. This was one of the main reasons that he started from first year and worked his way up. The pen provided by the hotel in his room allowed him to practice his wands movements. Although it wasn't a perfect solution he knew it would have to do until he could find a way around the underage magic law.

The hotel room that Harry was renting for the summer was simple, it was in a hotel that rented out rooms for long lengths of time to people for a cheaper rate. A quick call with Vernon's credit card to reserve the room for the summer with the promise of a cash payment sufficed for the hotel. The only downside was that he needed to make weekly stops to Gringotts to get enough money to pay the hotel and for food for himself as his one attempt to open a bank account had fallen flat on it's face when the clerk asked for his parent or guardian to come sign the paperwork for the savings account. Luckily for Harry, none of the Hogwarts staff or others that Dumbledore had sent out to find him had thought to look in Diagon Alley right when it was opening. Due to this hole in the net Harry was able to set up a mail drop in the post office. They also, for a price, redirected any howlers or letters with charms attached to a room that had the contents vanished by magic at least once a day. There was also a log kept of who the sender was whenever a letter was redirected letting Harry know who he could trust. Unfortunately, this also let him know that he was not able to trust any of his friends. After the first letter from both Ron and Hermione every successive letter had been charmed with a location spell or portkey, most likely by Dumbledore, in an effort to track him down. A quick letter through muggle post allowed him to inform Hermione of the fate of all letters that were charmed, although this did not slow down the rate of the letters at all.

Unbeknownst to Harry, the chest that he'd picked up in the attic was emitting a ward that would scramble anyone's attempts to track him down as long as he was within the same building as the box. He just chalked it up to the lack of common sense in the wizarding world as to why they had not thought to try a point me spell or scry for his location.

_Section Break_

_Ministry of Magic, Department of Licensing, July __21st__ 0800 hours_

While finally reading the laws regarding underage magic the day before Harry had stumbled onto a rare gem of information in the long, Binn's was more exciting, dry text of the law books he had purchased at Flourish and Blotts. The law, as it was written, allowed any school age child to apply for a permit to use magic during the summer months to practice. The only caveat to the permit was that the applicant could not have any previous communications from Madame Hopkirk. It was for this reason that our intrepid hero had shown up right at 7am. Earlier in the month he had read that any charges, including underage magic use, could be contested in the DMLE. He only needed to speak to an on-duty Auror, and as much as he hated it use his fame, to successfully contest the hover charm that Dobby had used the year previous. All it cost him was an autographed picture of himself and the Auror. This also had the side-benefit of getting somewhere to practice the more destructive spells like incendio or reducto as practicing those in a hotel room were about as smart as Hagrid wanting to raise a dragon in his hut.

"Next," came the voice of the clerk snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

"Good Morning Ma'am," Harry said politely, "I'm here to apply for a Conditional Use of Magic permit."

"Do you have the form filled out," the 30ish woman asked without looking up.

"Right here," he replied before sliding the paper across the counter. The guardian signature potion he had needed to forge, but he doubted anyone would bother asking ol' Vernon if he had _actually_ signed the paperwork. Of course, nothing can ever be completely easy for Harry, the moment that the clerk noticed the name on the form her head shot up so quick it looked like it would fly off. Her eyes immediately searching for the tell-tale scar that was better than photo id in the muggle world. Knowing what she was looking for Harry brushed his bangs slightly to allow her to see the lightning bolt on his forehead. It was a calculated risk for him to be spotted twice at the Ministry that morning, but the benefits heavily outweighed the risks as long as he got the permit.

"Mr. Potter, it is an honor to meet you," was squealed a lot louder than Harry would have liked.

"Ms…. Finnegan," came after a second of searching for a name plate, of course the name derailed his line of thought, "Are you any relation to Seamus Finnegan? He'd be starting third year at Hogwarts this year."

"Yes, of course, he's my son. He told me that he was in your dormitory, but I wasn't sure to believe him after all the tall tales he's told over the years," by the look in her eyes Harry could tell that she was hoping this wasn't one of Seamus' nearly infamous tall tales.

"He's in my dorm, been a good friend the last couple years. Never was quick to believe the rumors going around the school about me like most of the rest of the school," Harry reassured.

"I'm so glad he's been a good friend to you, oh my goodness, look at me getting all sidetracked. I do apologize Mr. Potter. Provided you have no previous warnings from the improper use of magic department we can get this taken care of for you right now. It will cost 1 galleon for the permit."

"I had a warning that summer that was expunged due to the charm being cast by a house elf. Here's the paperwork stating that it was removed from my record and the galleon," Harry explained while pushing both across the counter. After a quick examination of both forms his application was stamped and temporary permit issued.

"Everything looks in order and you should receive a copy by owl later today with the actual permit. Before you go, I do have one question for you. Seamus was telling me a story about you defeating a basilisk this year, and I was wondering if it were true," again, the look in the witch's eyes were practically screaming that she was hoping it was the truth. Due to the pleading he saw there Harry couldn't bring himself to lie or play down this achievement.

"It's true, after Ginny Weasley was taken into the Chamber of Secrets her brother Ron and I went down after her. I was forced to kill Slytherin's basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor after some assistance from the Headmaster's phoenix," This was said with as much modesty and humility as Harry could muster. He knew it was one heck of an accomplishment to slay a basilisk, especially at 12, but it wasn't something that he liked to brag about.

"Oh my word, it's unheard of for a basilisk to be slain by a single person. Have you arranged for it's sale yet? I'm sure it would bring you plenty of money," Harry could tell that she was extremely surprised that this story was true. He even saw a hint of regret in her eyes, possibly due to punishing Seamus for telling more tales. He'd find out when school started again.

"I assumed it belonged to the school," came the questioning reply.

"Oh no, as long as it's not on a reservation for the animal, any time a beast with an xxxxx rating is killed the person(s) to slay the beast are allowed to keep the body as payment for the service of protecting innocent people from the beast. It also grants immediate inclusion to the Dark Forces Defense League*. A perk, which is so rarely used it's nearly forgotten, is that anyone inducted to the League shall be given a permanent license to use magic as long as they abide by the Statute of Secrecy," Seamus' mom recited rather excitedly. As soon as she finished explaining she cast a spell that moved all of the information from the use of magic application to the application for the League. Giving him back the galleon she stamped the form stating that he had shown proof, although he hadn't, and asked him to quickly fill in the area asking for details of the kill, such as: animal type, size, how it was killed, location it was killed, and photographic proof of the kill.

"So I just take a picture when I go back to get it and send it in," he questioned.

"Yes, I would do it as soon as possible as well. If you're looking to sell the basilisk I'm told the goblins will give a fairly good price for it as the meat is a delicacy to them," Mrs. Finnegan explained before shooing him out the door while letting him know he was still getting the temporary permit until he could send the application in. With a weight lifted off of his shoulders for getting the permit and a way around having to apply again Harry made a bee-line for the exit so he could talk to Gringotts and see about selling the basilisk before it decayed further. Luckily, the trek to the bank was uneventful. Although, the strange guy with red hair and a dragon tooth earing that dashed off when he entered gave him little hope that he was able to enter unannounced. Finding an available teller, as he had no idea where to begin in asking for the right goblin to talk to, he waited patiently for Bloodgroove to notice him.

"Yes," came the harsh voice of Bloodgroove.

"Excuse me, but I was wondering who I would need to talk to about possibly selling the body of a basilisk to Gringotts," Harry replied with as much confidence as he could muster.

"Are you telling me Wizard, that you have slain a basilisk? Be gone, I have no time for the fantasies of children!" This upset Harry, as he wasn't used to having his claims refuted, well, except at Hogwarts.

"Yes, that is what I'm telling you. If you refuse to help me I will be forced to remove all of my gold from Gringotts. While I may not be able to access the Potter account now, I can remove it from your grasp and move it somewhere else where I would have unlimited access," Harry snarled. The condescension in the goblin's voice grated on him and brought back all the anger from when he found out that he had a family account but couldn't access it without his guardian present to see if any items belonging to his parents were in it.

"Who are you to make such claim to the Potter fortune," an equally angry goblin snarled.

"My name is Harry James Potter, sole heir to the Potter family and accounts, that's who I am!"

"What is the commotion over here," another goblin yelled from behind the podium.

"Griphook," Harry stated recognizing the goblin from his first visit, "I came here to possibly sell the basilisk I killed just over a month ago, and this goblin called into question my honor!" Barely keeping himself from saying goblin as if it were a curse, Harry hoped that a familiar goblin would help the situation.

"He has offered no proof that a basilisk was killed," started Bloodgroove before being silenced when Harry rolled up his sleeve to show the remnant scar of the fang that pierced all the way through his arm. While Fawkes' tears did an excellent job of healing him, they were mostly concentrated on getting rid of the poison in his body, rather than getting rid of the scar.

"This is where the great ruddy snake sank a fang into me. If proof is all that you require it would be easy enough. I am the only one currently alive that knows the location and can access the Chamber of Secrets where the fight took place. If you continue to call me a liar then I will take my business elsewhere," Harry spat. Both goblins had their eyes wide open at the declaration. Griphook immediately began speaking rapid gobbledygook before pointing towards the back of the bank. Bloodgroove gave one last snarl at Harry before complying with the obvious directions to remove himself.

"Mr. Potter, I apologize for the insult to your honor that happened within the bank today," Griphook looked like he had bitten a lemon while saying that. Apparently, apologizing wasn't something the goblin had much practice with.

"I know you would never insult my honor Griphook," Harry replied, taking his phrasing directly from the goblin, "And if the bank requires proof I am more than willing to lead an employee of the bank to where the body of the snake lay."

"We would need permission to access the school, provided of course that you are not returning for another purpose" this was said with a look at the application in his hands. Apparently, in the pursuit of getting the photo for the League application he was allowed to access the site of the kill without asking for further permission. It took a moment for the look and phrasing to sink in, but then Harry smiled and nodded.

"I need to return to the school anyway for photographic proof of the kill so I may submit my application to the Dark Forces Defense League. I'm sure there will be no problem if an employee of Gringotts accompanied me."

_Scene break_

_Hogwarts Castle, Entrance Hall, 1300 hours_

"MR. POTTER! What are you doing here," McGonagall yelled, "Students are not allow in the school during the summer months."

"While that's normally true, I'm applying for the Dark Forces Defense League, and I need a picture of the basilisk that I fought in the chamber as proof," Harry rattled off quickly. Dealing with an angry McGonagall was never pleasant. "And I brought a representative of Gringotts to see it as I'm hoping they will purchase the carcass instead of letting it rot down there."

"Be that as it may, don't you know that the Headmaster is quite panicked looking for you? You disappeared from your relative's house without alerting _anyone_ as to where you are going," she stated hoping the change of subject would cause Harry to divulge his living arrangements. In all of the commotion she never noticed that Harry wasn't wearing his glasses.

"I wasn't aware that my school headmaster needed to know where I was living," Harry grumbled before continuing, "Would you like to come with us to the Chamber of Secrets? It would allow you to keep an eye on my while I'm here to make sure I'm not going anywhere that I shouldn't." Like Hell, that excuse was just so he would have more time before she alerted Dumbledore to his location. It also derailed her train of thought quite nicely.

"Of course I shall accompany you," was the terse reply before Harry began leading McGonagall and Griphook to the location of his latest nightmare. Although, it did take some convincing to allow him into the girl's bathroom.

ᵹ_Open._ᵹ

"Mr. Potter, before asking us to slide down this chute, wouldn't it be prudent to make sure that there isn't an easier way to go down," McGonagall asked in her no-nonsense voice.

ᵹ_Stairs._ᵹ Luckily, the first try was the correct guess as just after hissing it the tunnel turned into a winding set of stairs that disappeared into the darkness. A quick _lumos_ by his professor and the party of three continued their adventure. At the bottom of the stairs the cave-in was still blocking the path, but a quick spell by Griphook not only fixed the cave-in but strengthened the ceiling. The first bit of proof to the wild tale she was told rocked McGonagall's world. She almost didn't want to continue, as that would mean that one of her lions had faced a beast that no man could. Harry pointed out the snake skin asking if there was any worth to it, which caused both members of the party to go bug eyed at the sheer size of the shed skin. After getting his bearings back Griphook stated that there was no value in the skin as it had been shed too long ago. Their shock at the skin was nothing on their shock at seeing the slain basilisk in the chamber. Griphook seemed unsteady on his feet while McGonagall actually fainted. A quick pat on the face to brought her back around before she grabbed Harry into a tight embrace while sobbing at the thought of him facing such a gigantic beast.

"Mr. Potter, I think not only can we do business, but you are about to become a very wealthy child," was the awed comment from Griphook. Not that Harry could reply due to lack of oxygen from the hug he was in. His professor finally released him when he began turning blue. A couple of quick photos, one with Harry standing next to it, and one with Griphook to show the sheer enormity of the snake, and they all headed back to the surface. It was fortunate that McGonagall still hadn't regained her wits by the time they reached the Entrance hall, otherwise she might have tried to stop Harry from leaving. As it was, she mumbled good-bye while the two walked away.

The negotiations over the dead basilisk were fairly short, in the end Harry deposited 2.35 Million galleons. It took nearly a week to harvest the beast, and Harry needed to let them into the chamber every day so they could do their work. Well, all he really needed to do was get to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and set down a portkey target. Due to the wards surrounding the castle it was a one-time use target instead of permanent. This caused some interesting times for Harry as he had to dodge staff members each time he came to the castle. Some more good news came on the third day of the harvesting when Hedwig returned with the reply from the Dark Forces Defense League.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_It is with tremendous honor that I am able to inform you that your application to join us has been approved unanimously. _

_We greatly respect the efforts that you have made to ensure that our world remains peaceful (a child of one of our members _

_attends Hogwarts and has informed us of your first year as well). It is with the greatest honor that we, The Dark Forces Defense League,_

_grant you admittance with the rank of Journeyman in Defense. What this means for you is that you automatically pass your OWLs_

_with an O grade, and are able to apply for tutelage under a Master of Defense to attain your own Mastery._

_The enclosed pamphlet covers the other perks that go along with being a member of the League, as well as containing your membership_

_Pin which lets everyone know that you are a member Journeyman. We look forward to what you might do in the future, and _

_If any help is ever needed just write to us. Members look out for one-another._

_Sincerely,_

_Alistair Potts_

The pamphlet went on to detail things like: he was no longer required to submit his wand when entering the Ministry, he was issued a permanent license to use magic as long as he followed the statutes, if he was brought in on charges while in the act of rescuing someone the League would furnish a lawyer, etc…

It had taken a few days, and a serious trade on his fame with Minister Fudge, but Harry was able to arrange to take his OWLs the week after he turned 13. The only downside to this was that he would need to study at least one elective to take. After another trip to the book store Harry decided to take both Ancient Runes and Arithmacy. Luckily, Arithmacy was just muggle math through algebra with another name. Thanks to occlumency he was able to quickly catch up and surpass his normal grade level for muggle math. There were plenty of workbooks in the muggle world to help him with that. Runes on the other hand was another kettle of fish. To be able to pass the tests Harry had to adjust his training schedule to:

5:30-6: Let Gringotts into Chamber of Secrets

6-7: Workout in hotel gym

7-7:30: Breakfast

7:30-12:30: Spell casting (Mon, Wed, Fri), Arithmacy (Tues, Thurs, Sat)

12:30-1: Lunch

1-5:30: Runes

5:30-6: Supper

6-9: Runes

9-10: Occlumency

Sunday: Revision

Even with the revised schedule it did not leave much time to study for the OWLs due to the fact that he got the ok on the 24th of July and was scheduled to start taking the exams on August 2nd.

A/N: I can't remember what story or author I originally got the Dark Force Defense League from, if at any time I find where that bit of inspiration came from I will duly cite it.


End file.
